According to ESPN Insider Shams Charania, USA Basketball is expected to hire Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra as its head coach for the 2028 Olympics.
He will succeed former coach Steve Kerr, who helped USA win gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
It won’t be the first taste of international coaching for Spoelstra, as he served as an assistant under Kerr’s from 2022 to 2024.
Not only that, but Spoelstra will also be the head coach for the next World Cup, which is scheduled to be held in Qatar in 2027.
More Basketball: Will There Ever Be a Regular Season Game in Australia?
For USA, it’ll be the fourth different coach in as many Olympics. Mike Krzyzewski coached in 2016, Gregg Popovich coached in 2020, Kerr in 2024, and now Spoelstra eventually in 2028.
Charania wrote that Spoelstra was awarded the job due to him being next in line:
“Team USA managing director Grant Hill decided upon Spoelstra. Hill has set an internal infrastructure for Team USA’s coaching cycles: Kerr was a top assistant for Popovich before becoming head coach, and now Kerr will transfer the job to Spoelstra.”
Spoelstra has built a reputation of being one of the NBA’s smartest minds who has gotten the most out of his players.
Since 1995, Spoelstra has been a member of the Heat, starting off as a video coordinator, and then working his way up through the ranks. Ultimately, he worked under Hall of Fame head coach Pat Riley for several seasons, including the 2006-07 season where the Heat captured an NBA Title.
When Riley stepped down in 2007-08, he handpicked Spoelstra to be his successor and he hasn’t ventured away from it.
He’s been Miami’s only head coach for the past 17 seasons, which is the longest-tenured coach in the NBA today, taking the Heat to six NBA Finals appearances and winning two of them.
On top of that, Spoelstra currently owns the fifth-most playoff wins as a coach in NBA history, and also owns the record for most wins in Heat history.
If there was a coach to take over a program, there was no better coach to do it than Spoelstra who has one of the more decorated resumes across the basketball landscape.
More Basketball: Bucks Discussed Giannis Antetokounmpo Trade with East Contender: Report
